


boy's best friend is worth the rubble

by kivancalcite



Category: Adventures of Tintin (2011), Tintin - All Media Types
Genre: Broken Bones, Buried Alive, Concussions, Fluff, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Injury, Light Angst, Pain, Self-Sacrifice, Sort Of, Trapped, Unconsciousness, also written for whumptober 2020, boy loves dog, captain goes more dad this time, he's in quite a bit of pain poor tintin, he's really sustained some injuries, snowy also concerned, tintin saves snowy from a collapsing building at the expense of himself, tintin's leg is at a particular angle and it's not a pretty one, too focused on a mystery as usual, which of course he is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28616607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kivancalcite/pseuds/kivancalcite
Summary: Written for a month's anniversary of being on this site and being the 7th fic I've published on the 7th day of January. Tintin gets too wrapped up in a mystery in a broken down house, and has to be dragged out before it completely collapses. That's of course if Snowy hadn't been trapped, and Tintin makes the decision to run in after him at his own expense. Rather him than his beloved dog, after all.
Relationships: Archibald Haddock & Tintin, Milou | Snowy & Tintin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	boy's best friend is worth the rubble

The building had collapsed somehow with not much warning, the instinctual feeling to get out immediately. Snowy had first let out a confused whine, sensing something wrong as dust and small rocks fell from the ceiling, scurrying over to his owner, who was clearly engrossed in some important markings on the stone walls, dragging on his trousers in an attempt to get him to leave.

“Snowy, what is it?” Tintin finally asked, regarding him, before glancing up to judge the situation. The support beams of the house were giving way, sloping downwards as bigger rocks started to tumble down. He stopped momentarily, Snowy ferociously now pulling him towards an exit and refusing to leave without him.

He was snapped out of his reverie by a rough hand on his arm as he was hurried forward. “Tintin, for the love of god, get out of there! D’you wanna have a building collapse on you??”

The loud voice of the captain was clear as day as he was pulled along, half jogging, Snowy following behind. The building fortunately wasn’t too big, him having run down a narrow hallway to get to him. Haddock kicked himself whenever he realised he’d left the boy alone, albeit with his trusty dog. It was instinctual, despite everything that had happened. He was only a teenager and yet had a remarkable knack for getting himself into risky situations due to the need for adventure and discovery.

He couldn’t blame the boy, in some way, of course. He’d been quite the same growing up, and with his alcoholism, well, that just created enough problems in of itself. But he’d been working towards something that didn’t involve so much of that.

Tintin had taken a glimpse behind him, momentarily catching the image of Snowy further behind than usual, the whole building now completely crumbling apart. They’d made it into the brilliant daylight, but Tintin broke free in a panic, leaping back into the building with a single cry of–

“ _Snowy!_ ”

–and the captain tried to grab back onto him, but the boy was agile and young and was already way ahead of him, scrabbling up into what was now effectively rubble towards his dear dog who had tripped, catching one of his legs under a rock. The dust was particularly full force and Tintin was coughing but remained set on freeing Snowy.

Haddock was panicking and there seemed hope of all three of them, by the skin of their teeth, getting all out at once. Unfortunately, as Tintin stumbled forward to prise the rock off his dog’s legs, Snowy leapt and was able to run almost full pelt towards the captain, both of them witnessing as rocks had now fell far too heavily to do anything. Haddock managed to glimpse one of them knocking the poor boy out before the building collapsed on top of him.

Tintin didn’t know how long it’d been, having felt the dust cloud in his throat and a sharp pain at the back of his head as everything finally crashed down around him. Snowy had been freed, running with fervour towards the captain after his owner urged him forward with less concern for himself.

It wasn’t so much waking up, but sliding in and out of consciousness as he heard barking and shouting, before brilliant sunlight shot through his vision and he squinted. A pained groan escaped his throat, before a panic rose in his chest. Some of the heavier rocks were pinning him down in a whole load more of the rubble and a large rough wooden beam had pinned down one of his legs in the most twisted position. Any attempt to move just caused him more pain, even breathing.

He blinked in this new light as he heard the shuffling and crunching of rubble around him and there was the sound of whining next to his ear, followed by warm licks to his face. He gave a short series of laughs, offering a small smile to Snowy’s concerned face and attention.

“What were you thinking, lad?” a familiar voice called, one more out of concern than anger and he looked to see the captain stumbling forward towards them, Snowy now a bit more happily wagging his tail after searching through what was left of the house to find him.

It was hard to respond properly, feeling suffocated by the rubble and much movement prevented by any pain that hit him in every attempt to do so. He knew he usually ended up in these situations, far too eager to discover things and resolve mysteries. Although to be honest, some of the danger he put himself in involved Snowy - the bond between a boy and his dog was not to be underestimated - especially in this case.

It took effort to push away the heavier rocks that pinned down his front and he took a sharp intake of breath as he sat up, Snowy licking his face in worry at the noise he made. Coughing was an entirely different problem, feeling like he’d cracked a rib or something, letting out a hiss of pain as he clutched his chest in a haze of panic.

Once again, he felt a rough hand on his shoulder. He glanced up to see the captain looking at him, his face tight. He was probably preparing himself for the moment where Tintin claimed he didn’t need any help and his injuries weren’t too much to worry about. But in this case, he felt like he had no energy, physical or otherwise, left to protest.

“Hey, lad, I didn’t mean anything by that. We’re just worried for you, y’know,” the man said, “That was quite a feat, Tintin, but you look shaken up as all hell from that. Especially your leg, right there.” Haddock looked over at his leg under the wooden beam, twisted at an odd angle. Tintin winced every time he looked over at it.

“I’d be careful with that, if I were you–” Tintin began to say, but his words caught in his throat as the captain moved over to lift and pull the beam away, the pain becoming more apparent with every shift of it.

Tintin made a noise between a choke and a sharp inhale as in the process of shifting the beam, it ended up accidentally dropping slightly on his leg, the captain cursing before managing to lift it off entirely. He took a breath, hissing at the new sense of freedom from the rubble, yet at the familiar inability to not move around without pain.

He looked up at the captain, feeling faint and hating how he must have looked. He reached a hand out to Snowy, scratching the back of his head as he sat nuzzling into his owner’s side.

Curse his constant need to put himself in danger for mysteries. At least he was alive, he guessed, but it was enough for him to worry his friends in the process.

Nonetheless, he couldn’t help but wonder what the markings were inside the house before it collapsed.


End file.
